Granular Jamming Based Controllable Organ Design for Abdominal Palpation

Area of Science:

• Medical Simulation
• Soft Robotics
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Physician training relies heavily on medical manikins.
• Existing simulators lack controllable organs for dynamic abdominal palpation training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a soft robotics controllable liver simulator.
• To enable realistic palpation training for various liver diseases and symptoms.

Main Methods:

• A soft robotics liver model utilizing granular jamming with positive pressure for tumor simulation.
• Inflation techniques to control liver size, stiffness, and tumor characteristics.
• Mechanical testing to evaluate the simulator's performance.

Main Results:

• The granular jamming mechanism effectively simulates solid-like tumors from fluid-like particles using low positive pressure.
• The system allows for controlled simulation of diverse liver abnormalities, including enlarged, cirrhotic, and cancerous livers.
• Mechanical tests validated the design and the efficacy of positive pressure granular jamming in tumor simulation.

Conclusions:

• The developed soft robotics liver simulator offers a realistic and controllable platform for abdominal palpation training.
• This technology enhances the training of physicians in diagnosing and managing various liver conditions.
• The granular jamming approach provides a viable method for simulating palpable abnormalities in medical manikins.